The government has failed to train enough teachers for any Ebacc subjects except for history, official statistics have revealed.
The data released today shows teacher supply model (TSM) targets were missed across the board, despite the fact that the overall number of people beginning postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) courses rose by 1,145 from 26,750 last year to 27,895 for 2017/18.
In the same period, the TSM target has increased by 1,670.
Of the Ebacc secondary subjects, the worst hit was computing, which had just 66 per cent of the required entrants. Physics managed just 68 per cent of its TSM target, with maths recruiting 79 per cent.
History was the only Ebacc subject to exceed its target, recruiting 102 per cent of the required trainees.
Non-Ebacc subjects have not fared much better, recruiting on average just 69 per cent of the required trainees.
Although recruitment of trainee PE teachers exceeded expectations, meeting 113 per cent of the target, just 33 per cent of the required design and technology teachers began training.
Executive director at the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), James Noble-Rogers, described the figures as “extremely worrying” and said the government “must take some of the blame”.
He said: “In its headlong rush to introduce a crude and unsustainable model of so called ‘school-led’ teacher training it destabilised the teacher supply base on which the country depends.
“Had this been done with a little more thought and less antagonistically things could have been very different.
“Fortunately, we are now seeing signs of a more pragmatic approach. The focus for the government now must be to encourage schools, universities and SCITTs to work together to maximise recruitment, and help to retain people in the profession by offering them structured early professional development that builds on and complements their initial training.”
The government hit its target for primary teachers, recruiting 106 per cent of the TSM target.
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